Documentary on sexism in games hits Kickstarter

Crowd-funding campaign for "GTFO: A Film About Women In Gaming" from NYC filmmaker intent on "exposing the harassment of women in video games."

New York City-based filmmaker Shannon Sun-Higginson has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a film aimed at "exposing the harassment of women in video games." Sun-Higgison is seeking $20,000 for the film, to be called GTFO: A Film About Women In Gaming.

The film will feature gamers, bloggers, scholars, developers, and "experts." A trailer is available on the campaign's Kickstarter page.

"I am just a casual gamer, so I was shocked about a year ago when a friend told me about the abuse that many female gamers and other industry figures endure on a daily basis," Sun-Higginson wrote. "I immediately began researching and filming this documentary, titled 'GTFO' in reference to the exclusionary response that many women encounter while gaming."

Sun-Higgison acknowledged that not all gamers are "trolls or abusers," but wants to make GTFO: A Film About Women In Gaming because sexism in games "is a real problem and it's time that the non-gaming public know about it."

"Nobody should have to endure being called a derogatory term simply because of their gender (or race, religion, or sexual orientation, for that matter)," she said. "It is not only offensive to the victim and detrimental to the public image of the industry, but it also discourages countless women who want to be part of new and creative media."

The purpose of the film, Sun-Higginson said, is to reveal the experiences of women in the gaming industry "both good and bad," and also to lay out steps that can be taken to "change the environment for the better." She said she has already filmed various interviews, tournaments, classes, and conventions, but needs the $20,000 to finish the project.

Sun-Higginson also published a budget plan for the $20,000, should the project be successful. Thirty percent will go towards shooting expenses, 30 percent to post-production costs, 30 percent to licensing rights for game footage, and the remaining 10 percent for festival submissions and promotion.

At press time, the campaign for GTFO: A Film About Women In Gaming had amassed $11,584 from 322 backers with ten days remaining. If successful, the film will launch by March 2014.

sexism stereotyping and alsorts of other politically incorrect stuff is what gaming is all about it isnt supposed to be real life it isnt supposed to be politically correct otherwise most of the games would never get released in the first place even crash bandicoot would be banned. Lee http://www.doodlegod.co.uk

My faith in humanity is slowly but surely dripping away. Seriously, of all the games I have played, I have never once seen males being favoured over females. Hell, males disrespect males all the time online, but once a male does it to a female it's sexism? And besides, if you're classifying gamers into 'male gamers' and 'female gamers' isn't that sexual division anyway? I'm going to hazard a guess and say these women are probably the lovable cuddly creatures known as feminists. But all misleading sentences aside, who wants to see a documentary on women who feel they're being abused anyway? It's hardly high budget entertainment with a good script. If you want to do a documentary do it on something interesting like animals or space or...y'know...boobs (just goes to show I seriously I take what they're doing).

"For women, getting angry is socially unacceptable, even when the anger is over violence, discrimination, misogyny, and other forms of oppression.

Anger is unacceptable because angry women are women in touch with their passion and power, especially in relation to men, which threatens the entire patriarchal order." - Allan H. Johnson

This quote sums up Gamespot.com's comment sections. If you are a female, or even a male who dares to so much as voice an opinion on sexism you are instantly attacked by the angry mob. Called "extremist" and "feminnazi" and other such ridiculous tripe. In here it's basically shut up, or be abused by idiots. It's almost ironic how well that represents the actual issues that this documentary will focus on. For every smart-ass anti-feminist comment on this site, more documentaries like this are needed.

100ProofSoco: I second that. Being online can make someone much more likely to say something to someone even than being on the phone (or ESPECIALLY in person)... however most of this problem is from immature little kids. MOST online issues originate from immature little kids (and yes, I know there are mature little kids too). I'm sure if you trolled around online enough you could throw together a montage of people saying derogatory things to women but I'm yet to hear anything like that and I play games a LOT.

No offense, but people have been putting out blog posts and documentaries on this subject without using Kickstarter. You're not going to change this issue because the simple fact is everyone is anonymous on Xbox Live so they think that gives them the right to say whatever they want to people, whether it be sexist, racist or just really offensive things in general.

Being British, I get a lot of crap from people just because of where I was born. You don't see me making a big deal out of it, because I understand that nothing that I do will change the way people behave when they know that there will be no consequences for their behavior. I just shrug it off, leave them bad feedback, report them and find different people to play with.

Congratulations on blowing out of proportion an already nonexistant issue. Sexism in games? Try sexism in adolescent kids. And racism. And lord know what kind of swear words they can conjure up. Good on them for increasing awareness that kids on xbox live can be a rude bunch

You little horny nerds better leave your female co-workers alone. I'm going to start a Kickstarter campaign to film a movie about the how broke you get and the blueballs you get when you go to a strip club.

Uh, it's not any worse in gaming than anywhere else. It must be exemplified in gaming; not because it's more prevalent among the population, but because everything is worse on the internet when everyone is anonymous. I'm not saying that makes it okay, but why would anyone kickstart a generic-at-best documentary? I bet you he won't interview the girls who go "omgaaaaaa, here you play, I keep shooting the wall" or the girls who actually play games, but make sure when they're streaming that they cut off vision from the top half of their head so they can make sure to show off their cleavage.

This is nonsense, all the blokes I know applaud women in gaming. I worked for SonyCEE and the women were treated the same as men. I should start a kickstarter film entitled "GTFO: Stop looking for sexism where there is none".

Only with Feminism do they find something wrong with every single thing. Not once in my entire personal life have I heard anyone complain that video games are sexist. If they want real sexism they need to move to Saudi Arabia where they douse women with acid or stone them for dressing inappropriately. This is a joke, Women's Rights are great, the Feminist culture isn't just about Women's Rights however.

Ooooo boy. I know this'll fall on deaf ears, but... As long as you idiots overreact the way you do in those comments, you'll just provide more arguments to radical feminists who want to bash an easy target. Stop being butthurt, respond with rationality instead of with 13-year-old, sexually frustrated vitriol, and they'll lose at least 75% of their arguments, publicity, and support.

And if you think this is just leftist bullshit, think bout it for a few seconds. Do you really think right-wingers, with their extensive history of videogame-bashing, aren't enjoying this, or thinking of ways to use this to use this to their advantage and join in the bashing of an easy target for moral outrage?

What a garbage concept for a documentary. Gamers in general get abused by other games, not female gamers in particular. Nearly anyone who has ever played an online game has been viciously harassed at least once, but lets start a moral crusade about how female gamers are delicate victimized flowers...

Using the words "barging in" gives the impression that gaming is closed off to women, that they aren't invited or wanted, and that's what is born out by the treatment and many of the comments here. Gaming should be inviting to everyone. If someone has to barge in, maybe what's needed is for the gaming community to open its doors instead.

I disagree, men do not get the same harassment. They may get other types of harassment in gaming, but mind you the women would get the same harassment on top of the sexism. Random sh!t-throwing is not the same as singling out someone for their sex, race, religion, etc. and throwing a slur to indicate that. That is where it crosses the line from ridiculous narcissism to discrimination.

I just read an article refuting every thing you just said. How fucked over in the head can you be? Saying "That's just part of the industry" solves nothing and is indicative of people like you refusing to think deeper and actually solve an issue such as this. Seriously; do you know how stupid you sound?

Keep in mind that most of the people here are kids, grownup kids, male geeks who can't even interact with the opposite sex! Let's not forget the hillbillies for who a video game console is their first experience with technology/computing.

@Razorlight6 Why should gaming be inviting to people who actively campaign to censor or destroy it? Of course women are welcome to join the gaming party as long as they play nice and don't try to ruin anyone else's fun. Yet that never seems to be the case, does it? Nope, they take a few random troll comments, declare themselves to be victims, and demand everyone else change and adapt to them.

Women always, always, always see everything through the lens of their gender. They are incapable of not doing so. Why are there so many self-styled girl-gamers, with profiles saying crap like, "Yes we exist, don't hit on me! I won't go out with you!" If they're just gamers who want to play and be left alone, what is the purpose of this behavior? Men don't make a point of proclaiming their gender, and they don't engage in arrogant, narcissistic, pre-emptive disqualification mate-screening behavior on a goddamned internet forum.

@Grampy_Bone@Razorlight6 See, things like this will be conveniently left out...good points made in opposition. They will be replaced by random rage troll comments. And they wonder why the issue makes us angry?

@bgranli@driklir@Angelsoft717 That's like saying the choir cares about the preacher's sermon, this is a politically divided issue, the only one's that'll watch it already have their minds made up, the rest of us see what actually happens objectively, and don't need some bias picture painted for us telling us why all men are evil.